The Peer Network

Cooperation Richmond is also a member of the Reinvest Network, committed to building a movement that connects divestment from the extractive economy to investment in ecologically sustainable and socially just economic development in the very same communities that have been harmed by extractive investments. Richmond is a community that has suffered redlining, dirty industry, mass incarceration and high un/under-employment. On top of that, the hard work of the people of Richmond more often than not is being used to line the pockets of banks and corporations, rather than keeping wealth in the community. We are working with organizers across the country to change that pattern. As students fight to get their colleges and universities to divest from fossil fuels companies, they are also fighting for their schools to reinvest some of those funds directly into the communities harmed by those past investments. Richmond, has suffered environmental injustice at the hands of Chevron, and so we see the value in working with students to build a movement that will support transition away from a dirty extractive economy to a thriving local, living economy.